


Start of a Season

by MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Football, Cheerleader!Steve, Fluff, Football Player!Tony, M/M, Minor Bucky Barnes/Natasha Romanov, football au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 15:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11992221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie
Summary: Steve could spend the whole season pining on the sidelines after the Avengers' running back, Tony Stark, but maybe Natasha's right: that would be pathetic.“Quite the tight end.”Steve splutters as Natasha slips up beside him. “W-what?” he manages. “Which, uh, which one?”“The only tight end player out there right now, Rogers,” Natasha teases, smirk growing. “Where’s your mind at?”





	Start of a Season

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Stony Bingo prompt "arena" and because it's the start of college football season!

“Quite the tight end.”

Steve splutters as Natasha slips up beside him, and he forgets to protect himself against her elbow nudging into his ribs.

“W-what?” he manages.

“What?” she repeats, smirking up at him. “You don’t agree?”

Steve avoids her look and turns back to the field in front of them where the teams break their huddles. The pads underneath the football uniforms bulk the players up, but the pants still pull tight across their asses. Steve wrenches his gaze toward the actual football rather than the guys lining up in formation.

“I didn’t think you lowered yourself to appreciate sweaty, smelly football players,” he recites. Natasha hums, and Steve watches as her gaze settles in the back of the field. “Which, uh, which one?” he prompts, his heart thumping in his chest.

It’s the offensive line that’s on the field, but Natasha had already told Steve that her and Clint, the quarterback, were nothing but close friends. Most of the school doesn’t believe it, but Steve does because Natasha told him so that Steve knew Clint was fair game. But while Clint is hilarious and fun and attractive, Steve’s eye (and unfortunately a bit of his heart) is stuck on someone else who lines up behind Clint.

“The only tight end player out there right now, Rogers,” Natasha teases, smirk growing. “Where’s your mind at?”

Steve flushes and his eyes dart away from where Tony Stark crouches behind Clint, ready and waiting, and back to the lineup. His chest eases in relief - Tony is a running back - and he collects himself enough to shoot back, “I’ll tell Bucky you were admiring him. He’ll be thrilled.”

“Go right ahead, but it’ll melt whatever is left of his brains,” Natasha replies, hands on her hips.

Steve chuckles and shakes his head. Bucky has been chasing after Natasha since forever, it seems, and Steve has been in more than one awkward position because of it. Refusing to let his best friend lift Natasha’s number from Steve’s phone had been a particularly bad fight, but Steve needed Natasha’s friendship on the cheerleading squad more than he needed to be Bucky’s wingman. That, and if Natasha wanted Bucky to have her number she’d give it to him herself, Steve had shouted at Bucky more than once, which she did - eventually.

The center hikes the football to Clint, and Clint hands off to Tony. Tony sprints for the opening on the side where Thor is pushing his opponent back. The football nestled under his arm, Tony gains ground as he spins out of an attempted tackle. Steve cheers as he watches, heart in his throat, and Tony darts his way past the holes in the defense and almost, _almost_ manages a complete breakaway.

A defender lunges and takes Tony’s legs out from under him, but the football remains in Tony’s hands as he slams to the ground. Steve holds his breath, but Tony tosses the football to the referee and jumps back onto his feet without injury.

Steve lets out a relieved whoop, hidden by the crowd’s roar, as the referees signal that Tony’s rush has gotten the Avengers another first down. Now, they’re first and goal.

Natasha tugs him back into their own lineup, and Steve leads his squad in a quick ‘Go Avengers,’ chant, but it doesn’t take much to get the crowd going. Clint already has the ball in his hands when Steve turns around, the team pushing their momentum. Clint fires a short pass at Bucky, wide open after peeling off from the end, and Clint places it perfectly for Bucky to catch and run for the goal line. Bucky dodges one tackle, gets taken out by a second, but it’s too late because Bucky dives forward just enough to cross into the end zone before he’s down.

The crowd erupts, and Steve leaps up into the air with a cheer. The touchdown means the Avengers have pulled ahead, 13-7, and with Loki’s magic feet the almost-guaranteed field goal should put them up 14-7. Even Natasha does an extra flip to get out the extra energy before the squad lines back up. The team performing well for the first home game of the season has everyone riled up, and it isn’t hard to get the crowd screaming the school chant when the band starts. Steve loves the excitement and beams at the student section as they shout the cheers back at his squad.

 

 

That excitement feeds Steve the energy he needs to get through the rest of the game. As cheer captain, he leads his squad in doing pushups for every point the Avengers score. With their offense making play after play, Steve’s arms let him know how exhausted they are as he lifts his duffel and throws it over his shoulder.

“You’re coming to Stark’s with me after this, right?” Natasha asks as they head away from the Avengers Arena that housed as many sports competitions as Howard Stark could fund.

Steve groans. He tries to stay away from the parties, feeling awkward and useless, but if Natasha goes than it’s guaranteed that Bucky will drag him along.

“Get it together, Rogers. I don’t want to watch you pine on the sidelines the whole season."

“It’s only the first game,” Steve mutters as they trudge towards the parking lot.

“Nat! Nat, we won!” Clint shouts, sprinting up behind them. “Did you see how amazing I was? Didn’t miss a pass!” he crows as he drops his bag and leaps for Natasha’s back.

Natasha ducks, and Clint tucks himself into a somersault as he lands so that he can roll safely out of it onto his feet. Sometimes Steve feels a stab of jealousy that Clint decided he’d rather be the quarterback of the football team rather than an amazing stunt performer on the cheerleading team.

“Stop showing off, Barton,” Bucky calls out from behind them. His hair still drips from his shower, but Steve pulls him into a side-hug anyway.

“Good game, Buck.”

“Thanks. Next time I’ll score so many touchdowns you won’t be able to lift Nat,” Bucky says with a wink in her direction.

“Thank you, James. I’m glad you’re so considerate of my safety,” she deadpans.

“What? No, I meant -” Bucky tries to say, but then is interrupted by Clint’s cheer of “Fail!”

“Come on, come on,” Tony says, shooing them as he approaches. “Let’s move the party to mine where we can celebrate in style.”

Steve always forgets how much smaller Tony is without the pads, and he might stare a little as Tony smiles up at him. Tony smiles at him, Steve, Tony is smiling at _him_ , and Steve’s heart might just skip a beat.

 “You’re coming this time, right Rogers?” Tony asks, still _smiling_.

Steve buys himself a moment to let his brain think with a long “Um....”

“He’s coming,” Natasha finishes for him.

“Cool. I mean, if you want, no pressure,” Tony says, smile dimming and his gaze darting everywhere but Steve. “I was just asking, because, you know... Clint are you coming? Someone needs to make sure Thor knows about it too and no throwing anything this time, I need to remind him of that...”

“Of course man, I always come,” Clint says, finally cutting Tony off. “I deserve to celebrate given my epic game tonight!”

“Alright _Amazing Hawkeye_ who never fumbles a throw,” Natasha says, rolling her eyes. “Get to the car. If you want a ride, Barnes, then you’d better follow now,” she says as she walks away, her hips swaying. She doesn't even look back as she crooks a finger.

Bucky, Steve’s best friend since before he can remember, abandons Steve without hesitation and races after Natasha. Well, it isn’t like Steve told Bucky about his crush on Tony because Bucky might get matchmaker ideas being on the same team - so that Steve might return the favor with Natasha, of course. Still, Steve judges him for abandoning him to an awkward situation anyway.

“Ah, the cheerleader and the football player. So cliché,” Tony comments with a snort as they disappear.

“What?” Steve asks, his heart stuttering in his chest.

“Just such a stereotype, you know?” Tony continues, shifting weight from foot to foot. Is he injured? “Jock football player, the pretty cheerleader?”

“Bucky’s more than a jock,” Steve defends. “And Natasha’s more than just a cheerleader.”

“It was a... I meant... never mind,” Tony mutters.

“Do you have something against cheerleaders?” Steve asks, frowning.

“No!” Tony yelps. “I mean, come on, I know exactly how many pushups you did tonight. Which, given the rest of you,” and Steve feels the weight of Tony’s gaze traveling down his body, “means your biceps are, um, _really_ nice.” Steve watches Tony’s eyes linger on his arms, and Steve feels hope flutter in his chest. He dares to take a step toward Tony. Tony continues, eyes wide but mouth running, “What’s your thing, Pilates?”

Steve backs up again. “The weight room. No different from you,” Steve returns, crossing his arms.

“Something’s different from me,” Tony says, his eyes still on Steve’s arms. “You could bench press me all day.”

“Damn right,” Steve says and flexes. He's gotten hundreds of critiques about why he chose to be a cheerleader and not a football player, but Steve has never regretted his choice. He likes the more elaborate stunts the squad performs and flying through the air in a flip much more than getting pounded into turf. Tony’s tongue darts out to lick his lips before he turns his big, brown eyes up at Steve with a smile, though, so Steve thinks that getting him to regret his life choices isn’t Tony’s goal. “Not tonight, though,” Steve admits. “You guys did score a lot.”

“Yeah we did,” Tony returns with a smile. “Tragic, though, that we can’t test this out immediately.” Tony gives Steve a _look_ , eyes dark and piercing, and Steve decides that pining on the sidelines for the entire season might be a bit pathetic if Tony is going to look at him like that.

“Right,” Steve forces out. His heart rate picks up and tries to ask himself what Bucky would do. “Maybe sometime soon, though? Like, tomorrow afternoon?” Not smooth, Steve knows, his voice too questioning, but Tony smiles up at him so maybe it was still good enough.

“Yeah, tomorrow afternoon. It’s a date?” Tony asks, and it’s definitely a question so Steve nods, trying to keep the blush from his face. “It’s a date,” Tony repeats, his grin widening. Then Tony darts up into Steve’s space and stands on his tiptoes to kiss the corner of Steve’s lips, there and gone. “Let's just call that a victory kiss and leave it at that, okay? Let's get going, Mr. Cheerleader. I’ve got a party to take you to,” he says as he tries to speed walk away, pulling out his car keys.

Steve doesn’t listen, his mind screaming from Tony’s kiss. He yanks Tony back to him, hand wound in the fabric of his shirt, pleased at how easy it is to pull Tony toward him. Steve leans down and Tony meets him halfway for a much more satisfying kiss that lights Steve up inside. Tony leans into him, hands gripping Steve’s biceps, and Steve lets out a pleased hum as he pulls Tony closer.

A horn honking breaks them apart, and Steve turns to see Natasha smirking at him from behind the wheel. Clint cheers from the passenger's side and Bucky leans out the back window to shout, "Get it, Steve!"

Natasha pulls away before Steve thinks of anything to say or even let go of Tony. Everyone remaining in the parking lot now stares at them.

“I hate our friends,” Tony sighs, hiding his face.

“Me too,” Steve groans, but keeps his arms around Tony and hides his smile in Tony's hair.


End file.
